Ryback Addresses “Goldberg” Chants

In the most recent issue of The WWE Magazine, Ryback discusses the often made comparisons between himself and former WCW and WWE Champion,Bill Goldberg. Some of the remarks would make one think that Ryback could be goading the formerly undefeated phenom into a match at some point in the future.

“People see a big guy with a shaved head who’s intense, and they draw those comparisons,” said Ryback. “I will say this: Goldberg did this for the money. He was never a fan of wrestling. I do this because I have a passion for it, and that’s the biggest difference between Goldberg and me. I’m not here to make five million dollars and then walk away. I’m here for life. And, I firmly believe that I’m much better than he was in the ring. He was great, and I was a fan of his when I was younger. But, I feel I’m a better athlete and wrestler than Goldberg ever was, and people are going to see that over time.”

I respect RyBack for being truthful, because make no mistake about it, he is telling the truth about Goldberg, who loves the money (who wouldn’t?) and not the actual thrill of competing. The only thing in his blood is money, not a passion for wrestling.

Take a look at the guy back on Tough Enough or NXT. What he lacks in talent he makes up with heart, passion and hunger. I’ll always take someone like him over a guy like Goldberg or even Brock Lesnar, who was possibly the most phisically talented guy to ever step into a wrestling ring. Unfortunately, the morons in creative will be stumped for ideas once his current run will start to fade.

you could take a 5 foot 3 guy with hair to his ass who is muscular and stocky and give him a 4 move move set with a streak and goldberg chants would still be heard. Ryback has alot more potential and hopefully his move set will expand. As with previous responses he speaks the truth both about the money and his passion. hopefully they begin to expand his character more and in the right direction.

Fans are mostly remembering the Goldberg from the WWF/WWE. By that time, yes, he was pretty much jaded and burnt out and only in it for the money. But you really can’t blame him after the way he was treated by certain people in WCW.

It’s no secret that Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash were jealous of Goldberg’s popularity and success. They felt threatened by him and were afraid he would take their spot. They did a lot of politicking behind the scenes with Bischoff, who they could always play like a fiddle and get exactly what they wanted. When Goldberg was booked to win the belt from Hogan on Nitro, Hulk pitched a hissy fit and begged for it to be a non-title match. Bischoff originally agreed with that but the pressure of winning the weekly rating war was too great so he changed his mind. But he made a verbal agreement with Hogan that he (Hulk) would be the one to win the belt back somewhere down the line. That was the ONLY reason why Hogan agreed to the title switch on Nitro.

Meanwhile Goldberg’s popularity grew and the boys got even more jealous. When Kevin Nash was made head booker of WCW, the very first objective he had was to end Goldberg’s streak. And he booked himself to be the one to end it. During all this, Goldberg had to know what was going on but he kept his mouth shut and did his job. Then Nash beat Goldberg after Nash zapped him with the taser.

On the Nitro episode where Hogan beat Nash for the belt with the ‘finger poke of doom’, you might remember that Goldberg had been ‘arrested’ after Miss Elizabeth accused him of stalking her. The original storyline was that she was going to accuse Goldberg of rape but both Elizabeth and Goldberg were very uncomfortable with it and Goldberg flat out refused to do that angle. Hogan and Nash immediately started telling the boys in the locker room that Goldberg was not being a team player.

Then there was that whole stupidity where the police station was shown earlier that night to be right across the street from the arena but when Goldberg was ‘released’ after Miss Elizabeth kept changing her ‘story’, he wasn’t able to make it back to the arena from the station in time for the match. So Hogan took his place and finger poked Nash. Goldberg came back finally and was beaten down and spraypainted with the NWO tag, burying the character and derailing his push, which was exactly what Hogan and Nash wanted.

Then there was all the nonsensical booking of Vince Russo. Among other insane storylines, he had the bright idea of turning Goldberg heel but then turned him back as a face the next week.

It’s no wonder that Goldberg got burned out and disgusted with the politics of the business. When he got to the WWE, he knew there was more back-room politicking from the WWE vets against anyone who came from WCW. Everyone could see it. Look at the whole Invasion booking angles. DDP was a WCW star, he ‘feuded’ with the Undertaker and was demolished every match, including in a match against Undertaker’s non-wrestler WIFE Sara! WCW vets were constantly booked to lose and lose badly. So when Goldberg got there, his antenna was up and he was jaded and suspicious.

Who knows what would have happened if WCW had the brains and guts to tell Hogan and Nash to suck it? Maybe Goldberg wouldn’t have lost his passion for the business. Or maybe he would have. We’ll never know.

Nash played basketball at Tennessee. Big Show played basketball at Wichita State.
You have to have some sort of athletic ability tto make it. (Among other abilities)
Now to the politics. Yes Wordman is pretty much correct. I never thougt BG was a great wrestlee per say but Hogan and Nash never realized their time had past. Ithink HH may realize it now but I don’t know for sure.

He was drafted in 1990 but was not on the main roster for the 90 or 91 seasons. In 1992 he was traded from LA to Atlanta where he basically sat on the bench for 3 years. Yes he made appearances in 14 games over those 3 years but he only started 1 game & in those 3 years only recorded 11 tackles (that’s less then 1 per game) at which point he got fired from the Falcons (not traded, not left on his own but fired because he sucked so much).

Playing in the NFL doesn’t automatically make you an athlete or a better athlete then other people, and being a Career Bench Warmer sure as hell doesn’t give you the credentials to say you’re automatically a better athlete then somebody else.

Wordman: Actually I remember reading an article in WOW Magazine (the first non-kayfabe wrestling magazine RIP) and Goldberg was just starting and he said then he was doing it for the money. He said he was never a fan of wrestling growing up and thought it was all very silly but he was told he had a good look and could make big money. In the end he sure did. This was even before he beat Hogan for the title and at the height of the streak. He certainly wasn’t bitter then he just was being honest. I don’t begrudge him that but you can’t make it seem like his heart was always in wrestling until the other guys ruined it. He truly never cared that much about wrestling though I do think he loved the fans chanting his name.